“We can schedule a day at the shelter,” she continued. “Nothing elaborate. Just natural interactions.”
“That would be preferable,” I said.
She laughed.
My phone buzzed then, the screen lighting up with a new message.
I glanced at it. “It appears I have also been assigned to work the Hale Lodge gala.”
She nodded. “Crowd control?”
“Yes, standard assignment." I gestured toward the truck. “I should let you get back to this.”
“Thank you for coming by,” she replied. “And for trusting me with helping you.”
“It seemed logical,” I said.
She smiled at that, something warm and genuine.
As I walked back toward my car, I looked over my shoulder once more.
The float wasn’t finished. The shelter video wasn’t filmed. The gala was still ahead.
But for the first time since my promotion, I felt like the job was expanding instead of narrowing. Less about authority. More about connection.
And somehow, Lydia was at the center of that shift.
I walked inside the inn, thinking about shelter cats, parade lights, and a woman who made difficult things feel manageable.
That, I realized, might be the most interesting development of all.
Chapter Thirteen: An Old Frenemy
Lydia
The clerk at Town Hall stamped my paperwork with a satisfying thump and slid it back across the counter.
“All set,” she said. “You’re officially in the parade.”
I smiled with warmth, happy that I had successfully completed everything and the only thing left was the parade itself. “Thank you.”
She glanced down at the forms again, then backup at me. “You would be surprised how many people forget this part.”
“I believe it,” I said, remembering how they had sort of snuck in the question in small print. Only with Meri’s help had I noticed it.
She laughed softly. “You’re organized. It shows.”
I took the papers and tucked them carefully into my folder, feeling a small, steady pride settle in. Not the breathless kind from something magically coming together but the quiet kind that didn’t need anyone else to notice even though I had been steady and worked hard.
Outside, the cold felt sharper than it had earlier, the kind that woke a person up when they stepped out into it. I pulled my coat tighter and started down the sidewalk, mentally checking off the list I’d been carrying around in my head for days.
Float approved. Truck secured. Decorating finished. All I had to do was convince my parents to bundle up and sit on the bench as I drove in the parade.
For once, the list felt manageable.
I walked to the coffee shop on instinct before I even realized where I was headed, the familiar sign swinging gently above the door,Lattes & Laughter.Charlotte had renamed it, saying if she was going to risk everything on a café, it was at least going to sound welcoming.
The bell chimed as I stepped inside, warmth and the smell of espresso wrapping around me like a reward.
